What is Social Enterprise
"A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives. Any profits are largely reinvested in the business or in the community, rather than given to shareholders and owners.”
VAST are committed to supporting and developing sustainable Social Enterprises in Staffordshire, and we have a team of SFEDI accredited Business Development Officers who are able to offer flexible support to meet your needs.
- Almost two-thirds of the British public would prefer their local services to be delivered by social enterprises.
- Social enterprise is one of the UK’s fastest growing sectors - there are an estimated 55,000 social enterprises currently operating in the UK.
- Women and people from certain ethnic minority groups are more likely to become social entrepreneurs than conventional entrepreneurs.
- Social enterprise is now on the national curriculum, and more than 200 schools in the UK already run their own social enterprises.
- The sixth most popular coffee brand in the UK is owned by Cafedirect, a social enterprise.
- Around 10 million people in the UK are members of a co-operative, which is a form of social enterprise.
- One in five social enterprises in the UK has an annual turnover of over £1 million.
- The combined turnover of social enterprise is estimated to be £27 billion a year with a contribution to GDP of around £8.4 billion.
- 10% of municipal recyclable waste in the UK is collected by social enterprises.
- The Community Interest Company, the new legal form specifically designed for social enterprises in 2005, was the first legal form of company to be created in the UK in 100 years.
- There are over 170 community-owned shops, which are social enterprises, in England and Wales.
- The Co-operative is Britain’s biggest farmer with 85,000 acres of land.
- The UK’s largest independent wholefood distributor, Suma, is a social enterprise.
- Over 50% of social enterprises are located in the 40% most deprived areas and play a role in urban regeneration.
- There are around 137 businesses in the social firm sector in the UK – social firms are social enterprises set up specifically to provide employment for disabled people and others disadvantaged in the labour market.
